Letters to the editor - 12/20/02

December 20, 2002

No saving Trent Lott

To the editor:

The media coverage surrounding U.S. Senate Republican leader Trent Lott and his efforts to save his job should be sustained and more aggressive.

This is a man who has a history of supporting initiatives that have oppressed minorities and has failed to recognize civil rights leaders as American heroes defending the American creed. Along with calling our attention to the senator's most recent errors in judgment, the media should make an effort to chronicle this man's political history. In showing his support for racial segregationist Strom Thurmond, he has only proven that racism is still alive and well at the highest level of our own national government.

Minorities are always expected to forgive their oppressors. We are always being asked to move on with our lives, as if we are not deserving of reparations or sanctions placed on our oppressors. That is baloney. When a person shows a consistent pattern of holding a minority group down, he or she does not get a free pass just because they appear on the "negro network" to say they are sorry.

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I am not surprised by his show of support for Strom Thurmond. However I am surprised and insulted by the fact that he would try to reach out to the African- American community by showing his face on the Black Entertainment Television network (BET). He has never made an effort to appear on this station in the past, despite their request to have him on.

Trent Lott has been the same person for years and all of his apologies should be viewed as last-ditch efforts to save his job. His statement was racist, his political policies have been racially oppressive and yet he wants me to think that he is not a racist. His support for Strom Thurmond is sickening. However, his attempt to mitigate the intent is worse.

The Senate will be sending a message to the American people when they determine what they will do with Sen. Lott. However, we shouldn't be so quick to think that he is the only bad apple in the bunch. He was just arrogant or foolish enough to shoot his mouth off while the cameras were rolling.

Joseph Jefferson

Hagerstown

Taking founders out of context

To the editor:

Liberals, in their quest to rewrite history, primarily quote Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington. The reason being all three have said things that can support a distorted view that can be taken out of context.

It is one thing to promote a personal opinion opposing Christianity and democracy along with separation of church and state: It becomes subversive when teaching students - a captive audience - when there is no sound basis for their deception, when there is no supporting evidence other than what was taken out of context.

Analyze the following quote from James Madison, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

This is very difficult to take out of context and in any other country would constitute treason by the federal judges who wrote and concurred when stating the Ten Commandments be taken out of schools as students gazing upon them may have a tendency to obey them.

Just remember, every time there is a Columbine that takes place in the public school system, the root cause is directly related to what is perceived by the liberals as freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution without teaching the moral and Godly bounds as set forth in the Ten Commandments along with accountability. Amen.